


Bad Ideas Met With Good Results

by castronomicaaal



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-18
Updated: 2014-11-18
Packaged: 2018-02-26 05:20:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2639609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/castronomicaaal/pseuds/castronomicaaal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Beth and Rick are held up in a random home for the night after narrowly escaping a walker herd. While there, feelings both had pushed to the side end up surfacing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bad Ideas Met With Good Results

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place some point during the earlier half of season four.

The door slamming shut behind them is like an echo of relief.

Beth and Rick are both standing there, sweat dripping down their faces as they press their backs to the door. Both are also breathing heavily.

“You think everyone else got out okay?” She asks him, gasping. Her cheeks are tinted red from the cold.

Closing his eyes, Rick turns away from her inquiring gaze. Her eyes are too blue, too wide and innocent. There’s no way he’d be able lie while looking into them. He would prefer to simply tell her yes, but truthfully he just doesn’t know.

“Could be,” Rick finally responds, voice gruffer than usual. “We need to worry about ourselves for tonight. There’s no way we can leave before mornin’, that herd is too large to be gone anytime soon. Get your knife out and follow after me.” Just like that, before her very eyes, he’s suddenly back in leader mode.

Beth does as told and moves away from the door. She watches him as he begins tying a cord he’d just pulled off of the curtain around the door handle, securing it tightly. “Push that couch over here,” Rick motions towards the gaudy red furniture nearby.

Nodding, Beth makes her way over and begins to push it. It’s a slow move until Rick is finished tying the second cord around the handle. After, he makes his way over to help and together they secure the couch, pressing it tightly against the front of the door.

“You got your knife now?”

Beth raises it in response, nodding. “Good, now follow me. We gotta secure the place, make sure there aren't any walkers inside. You stay right behind me, you got that?”

Beth nods understandingly and Rick pats her on the shoulder briefly, squeezing tightly, before turning and ascending the stairs.

She’s almost still in disbelief honestly, as she follows Rick from room to room with her knife elevated and ready.

It was meant to be a simple run, really—Rick, Beth, Daryl, Sasha, and Michonne going out for this one. Normally they wouldn’t be bringing quite as many people, but they’d needed more supplies than usual. Glenn had just picked up four new members to bring back to camp during their last run, and they’d been in need of more food and supplies ever since. Tyreese, Carol, and Hershel had all promised to watch over the prison in replacement of Rick and Daryl while they went.

Beth swallows heavily upon remembrance of this, suddenly worried for both Maggie and her father’s sake. Neither will know what’s currently happening, where she is, and she can see in her mind the look of fear on the both of their faces when she doesn’t show up back at the prison come this evening.

The run had been smooth sailing for the most part, too. With Michonne off on her own checking through the nearby drugstore, Sasha and Daryl in the convenient store, and Beth and Rick scavenging through an old gas station.

Rick and Beth had emerged minutes after entering, their finds in bags they had brought along, when they’d spotted the herd. Too far for them to make it to the safety of the car, and with the other three still gone from eyesight, they’d been forced to flee. Dropping their finds to the pavement below, the twosome had been forced to take off.

Far enough away, they’d found this house. But knowing that the herd was still out there somewhere, still nearby, would be keeping them cooped up for the night.

In one of the upper bedrooms, with Rick examining the attached bathroom, Beth does her own part. She opens the closet without any real worry of something being there, but still wants to check it out. She gets the shock of her life when a walker falls out, grabbing onto her wrist in the process.

Screaming and alerting Rick of her peril, her frantic attempts to shake the walkers hand off accidently causes her to drop her knife. The ravenous walker, growling loudly and body badly decomposing, pushes Beth downward and forces her down to the floor.

She wrestles with it, her hands pressing against its decaying chest in hopes to stop it from tearing out her jugular. Rick is quick to stab it repeatedly in the head as she fends the walker off.

More blood spurts out from the wound, covering Beth’s torso and head both with a thick coating, before it finally falls still on top of her. Quickly pushing it off, she takes Rick’s offered hand.

“You okay, Beth?” He asks her, sincere worry in his eyes as he looks the girl over for any bite marks or other afflictions. She nods numbly, willing her body to stop shaking.

“Never expected a walker to be hidin’ in such a tiny closet,” she admits finally, forcing out a small laugh. Rick smiles in return, but it doesn’t quite meet his eyes.

Pressing his hand into her shoulder, he pulls her away from the scene of the crime. “You find somethin’ to clean up with and change into, how ‘bout that?” He asks her. “And I’ll see if I can’t find us something’ to eat downstairs.”

Beth nods slowly, wiping at the blood on her cheek. Unfortunately it just spreads the gore further across her pale flesh. He notices her trembling hands before she does.

Eyeing her closer, Rick sighs deeply. “You sure you’re okay stayin’ up here by yourself? I could stay and wait if you’d like,” he offers, retracting his previous decision with ease.

Beth shakes her head quickly, a small blush creeping its way up her cheeks at the thought of Rick by her side as she undresses. “I’m okay, Rick,” she assures him. “I promise. You go on down there and I’ll holler if I need you.”

“Alright,” Rick gives in easily enough. Both stand still for a moment longer, until eventually he makes to leave. His eye contact with her remains until the very moment he closes the door, shutting it soundly in front of himself.

He pauses a moment longer once he’s out of view from her, hand still on the knob of the door. His other hand rubbing at the scruff of his beard, he releases a shaky breath. Feet eventually moving, he does his best to erase all thoughts of Beth lying dead on the floor of the bedroom, nearly ready to reanimate and with Rick too late to save her.

Meanwhile, Beth sighs deeply. Her hands rest on her hips as she examines the dead walker and the closet she’d just nearly died in. Shaking her head, she makes her way from the room, figuring she can find new clothes elsewhere.

* * *

Beth can tell by the smell as she walks downstairs that Rick had been able to find a can of beans. Her mouth nearly waters as she smells it, not realizing her hunger until now. Entering the living room with her hands crossed in front of her chest, her long sleeved shirt far too big and sleeves rolled to accommodate her small arms, she spots the man.

He’d started a small fire in the fireplace apparently, cooking the food over the flame. Smiling at her upon her arrival, he shoots her an appraising grin as he looks her chosen attire over.

“It's not exactly country chic,” she teases, making fun of herself, “but it’ll do.”

“Probably isn’t much you couldn’t make look nice,” Rick compliments. Briefly he wonders if he should have admitted as such, but Beth smiles in return and eases his worry. She shuffles a bit awkwardly as she stands there in the doorway, all the while willing her blush at Rick’s compliment to dissipate.

“Come sit down,” he finally speaks up, motioning the girl over. Beth does as told, sitting down beside both Rick and the fire with her legs crossed beneath her.

“I gotta ask you somethin’ Rick,” she admits after a moment or so, figuring it’d be best to voice the very thing she’d been wondering ever since they were separated from the group. “Do you feel more vulnerable with me here?” At Rick’s curious gaze, she elaborates. “I just mean, do you wish you’d had the chance to run off with someone else? I'm not much help,” she offers with a slight shrug, picking at the loose thread of fabric along one of her sleeve hems.

Rick frowns deeply, turning to meet eyes with the teen. “You aren’t a burden, if that’s what you’re askin’,” he tells her, his displeasure evident. Beth grimaces.

“Look at me,” she shakes her head in defeat, “I almost got myself killed upstairs because I wasn’t payin’ good enough attention. I’m useless.”

“Did you get some sort of manual prior to this shit storm on how to survive walkers that the rest of us don’t know about?” He asks her in retort, a single brow raised as he awaits her response.

Beth blushes yet again as she listens, lowering her eyes to the ground. His words work, though, as a small smile soon spreads past her lips. “Rick, I’m bein’ serious…” she tries telling him.

“And I’m bein’ serious too, Beth. There are no rules or regulations out here in this world we’ve got now. You can’t do much but just keep livin’, and so far you’ve done a pretty good job of that.”

Beth rolls her eyes. “I just almost died, Rick,” she tells him pointedly.

Rick chuckles. “Almost dyin’ and actually dyin’ are two very different things. You’re doin’ fine, Beth. You gotta start givin’ yourself more credit. I’ve seen you take down walkers with ease with my own two eyes. So to answer your dumb question, no. I don’t feel vulnerable with you here.”

Beth smiles kindly in response, her heart fluttering at his admittance. He shrugs as though it’s no big deal, bumping shoulders softly with the younger female, “I’m kinda glad it’s you, anyway.”

He’s not eager to admit why, though—not completely, at least. It’s wrong, plain and simple, for him to be feeling the things he feels for this beautiful blonde.

After things with Lori, he didn’t figure love to be in his cards again. But then Beth came along, with her bright smile and faith for days. It’d been about a month or so since he’d first admitted it to himself. He’d been watching from afar, his heart thumping wildly, as he admired Beth playful and carefree with Judith cooing in her arms. And it had hit him like a ton of bricks, too, having to leave the room moments later for some fresh air.

He figures it’d probably be for the best to keep these emotions to himself. Besides, the last thing he needs would be to scare Beth off; frighten her away with his perversion.

Beth watches him suspiciously, not quite appearing convinced by his words. Rick pushes away his newfound nerves, chuckling instead at the look on her face. “Hershel would kill me knowin’ I left you back there,” he elaborates, “and you’re pretty good company.”

She can’t help but smile a bit at this, shaking her head slowly. “How am I good company?” Beth asks seriously.

Rick shrugs, scratching at his beard with his fingertips. “You just are,” he finally settles on.

“You gotta do better than that, sheriff,” Beth playfully chides, hitting her shoulder back against his own in delayed retaliation. Rick’s smile returns after.

“There’s somethin’ about you,” he finally admits. “It’s always been there, ever since I first met you on the farm. Even when you were…” Rick trails off suddenly. Beth pretends not to notice him briefly glancing at her wrist, absentmindedly tugging the sleeve back down over her scar there. “Well, you know,” he finally settles on. “Even while all that was happenin’, you always stayed you. You sing,” Rick tells her after, as if that’s supposed to make her understand.

She grins softly, swiping a stray blonde hair out of her eyesight. “You're not very good at explainin’ things,” Beth laughs.

Rick snorts, shaking his head before moving to take the beans off of the flame. Dividing the container onto two separate pieces of cardboard he must have found earlier, he hands one to Beth. She grins.

“We eatin’ with our hands tonight?” She asks him.

Rick grins back, his head turning to watch the girl as she begins to dig in. “Sorry your majesty,” he responds in jest, “must have left the table cloth and fine dining utensils at home.”

Both share a brief laugh at this, with Rick digging into his own meal as well.

* * *

They’d settled on one of the cleaner upstairs bedrooms to reside in for the night—far away from the room Beth had been attacked in. Rick, worried for Beth’s safety, had forced the girl to share.

Or he’d thought as much.

Honestly, Beth has had a bit of a crush on the man ever since he’d come to the farm. And the thought of Rick wanting her nearby, wanting to keep her safe, definitely made her feel good. She’d mostly protested out of hopes to cover her excitement over the prospect of him staying.

Having covered the entire house with strings of objects they’d found in the home, both had been confident they’d be alerted to any impending troubles were they to come.

Of course, Rick had taken the floor almost immediately. Swearing up and down it was fine, they’d both eventually settled in.

That had been probably two hours or so ago.

With Beth still wide awake, she sighs for the sixth or seventh time before rolling back over onto her other side. Propping the pillow up a bit further, she attempts to let sleep take her.

Really, it should be easy. God knows when the last time she’d been in an actual bed was. It should be heaven, lulling her to sleep with ease.

But she can’t stop thinking about Hershel and Maggie. Beth keeps picturing Daryl, Michonne, and Sasha all back by the car where they’d separated, rambling around aimlessly as walkers.

“Rick,” she finally whispers with baited breath, half expecting him to be asleep.

“Somethin’ the matter?” Comes his own quiet reply. Beth can instantly tell that he’s yet to sleep himself, his voice too lucid to have been claimed by any recent slumber.

Releasing a nervous breath, Beth chances it. “Come up to bed with me,” she whispers back. Unsure as to why she continues to whisper, she decides it’s most likely because she’d have been far too embarrassed to say such a thing completely out loud.

It’s quiet on Rick’s part for a minute or two before he coughs rather uncomfortably in reply. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Beth.” He tells her plainly.

Beth sighs, eyes closing tightly. “I can’t sleep, can’t stop worryin’ about everybody,” she admits.

Propping himself up on his forearms, Beth opens both eyes just in time to watch as Rick’s face comes into view. The moonlight seeping in through the window illuminates him as he watches her. “Me too,” he finally admits.

This worries Beth greatly. Rick is usually quick to respond positively to worry, so if he’s nervous himself about something it generally means bad news.

“Please Rick,” she tries again, patting at the free space beside her in bed.

With a deep sigh, and tired eyes Beth can see plain as day in front of her, Rick stands. Eyeing the bed nervously—something Beth would probably be laughing about if it weren’t for her current worry-filled state—Rick finally maneuvers himself onto it.

Beth smiles gently as she watches him approach, scooting over and making room. “Isn't it better up here?” She asks.

Rick is reluctant to agree but, unable to deny the truth, eventually nods.

“I don’t bite,” Beth tells him after a moment, snuggling further beneath the bedspread.

Rick still looks worried, but seems to relax further into the mattress as she eases his tension. “You’re somethin’ else, Beth,” he tells her, shaking his head.

“Speakin’ of which,” she turns slightly, laying on her right side to better see Rick, “you remember earlier?”

She doesn’t know what it is really, where she’s suddenly got this newfound confidence from—perhaps it’s Rick, currently in bed with her in the dark in the middle of the night—but whatever it might be, Beth is determined to take full advantage of this strength.

“Hmm?” He hums softly, eyes meeting hers briefly, clearly in need of further elaboration.

“About my singin’,” she clarifies with a small smile. To her disappointment, this causes Rick to frown.

“Listen Beth, it’s late. We should be getting’ some slee—”

“—you don’t gotta get all defensive,” Beth cuts him off, embarrassed. She moves back onto her back in one quick motion. “Forget I asked, sorry.”

After a minute or two of pure silence, he groans in frustration. “Sorry Beth,” he expresses in earnest. “It’s not you, it’s me. Just been havin’ a rough day.”

Beth’s own smile returns tenderly as he confesses this to her, and she turns her head to admire Rick in the dark. “You’re sayin’ that to the girl who was almost walker bait today,” she points out.

Rick chuckles. “You have a good point,” he concedes. And then before he can stop it, “you’re just so pure.”

It startles her, so quiet she almost misses it. Searching Rick’s eyes within her own, she feels her breath catch slightly in the back of her throat.

“What do you mean?” She asks, her heart pounding within her chest as she watches him swallow heavily.

“You still sing because you got somethin’ worth singin’ for,” Rick elaborates finally, his tone showcasing for Beth’s own ears his slight unrest over admitting such a thing.

“You’re just so pure, in such an ugly world. You make my days brighter,” Rick acknowledges with a slight shrug. “You make all our days better, and you don’t even know it. You’re just…you’re good.”

Beth doesn’t know what exactly makes her do it. She just knows that if she doesn’t do it now she may never get the opportunity to do so again. Before Rick has the chance to say anything, or to push her away or even fully grasp the situation, Beth is pressing her lips soundly to Rick’s own.

There isn’t much movement, at least not to begin with, and Beth both hears and feels it as Rick inhales a quick breath.

But he doesn’t pull away, and it’s all the encouragement Beth needs to push further.

Moving her lips slowly, still in disbielf over her lips actually touching Rick’s own—she’d been dreaming of this moment for so long—she presses a soft kiss right to the center of his mouth. His lips are warm and trembling slightly against her own and his stubble is rubbing against her smooth face, but she finds she doesn’t mind at all.

Just as suddenly, Rick begins kissing her back.

It’s raw and full of wanting. Beth can taste and feel his passion and she’s pulled into it head first. Wrapping her arms around him the best she can, she deepens the kiss.

“Beth, wait a second,” Rick pauses his ministrations mid kiss, lips still pressed against her own as he speaks. “Please, stop,” he pushes her back lightly, just far enough to make eye contact.

The look on his face is nearly unreadable and Beth is left to wait nervously for him to continue.

“This isn’t a good idea,” he finally settles on.

Beth frowns, but refuses to look away. “Not either of our first time havin’ a bad idea, and probably won’t be the last,” she points out.

Despite his better judgment, Rick finds himself smiling softly at her words. She always seems to know the right thing to say.

It sends a small shiver of hope through Beth’s body.

His head leaning forward, he plants a small kiss to Beth’s forehead. “Go to sleep,” he whispers, lips still pressed to her warm skin. “We have a big day tomorrow and we’re gonna need all the strength we got. We’ll talk about this, about us, but now's not the right time.”

Beth gives in to Rick’s words fairly easily, happy to hear him admit to even be considering an ‘us’. She nods before pressing herself closer to him. Her arms tightening around his waist, she rests her head along his chest.

Overwhelmed by the entire day’s events, Beth falls into an uneasy slumber.

* * *

There isn’t a walker in sight when the two leave their makeshift home the next morning.

They walk slowly, keeping their eyes peeled as they make their way through town. “Seemed closer last night while we were runnin’,” Beth tells him with a soft smile. “Even if the run almost killed me.”

Rick chuckles quietly, nodding in agreement. “Hadn’t realized just how far we’d gotten,” he admits.

“How far away you think those walkers are now?” She asks, kicking her boot at rock she spots on the road below.

He shrugs, continuing to scout out the area. “Far enough they won’t be botherin’ us, I hope.” Beth nods.

“I think they’re fine,” she mumbles after, running her hand up and down her arm absentmindedly. At Rick’s inquisitive gaze, she elaborates, “Daryl, Sasha, and Michonne,” she shrugs. “I got a feelin’ they’re okay.”

Rick nods slowly, breathing deeply. Eventually his eyes find Beth’s own. “I hope so,” he agrees.

“Rick, I promise it’ll be—”

Anything Beth had been ready to say is interrupted as a low growling sound emits from somewhere nearby.

Rick pauses, grabbing his knife with one hand and Beth with the other.

Both looking around, Beth eventually spots it—five walkers, all staggering around near the side of a house. “Rick,” Beth whispers, pointing them out.

He notices them about the same time they notice him. Their hands extended and rotting flesh hanging off of their bodies, they begin to approach.

“Got your knife?” Rick asks her. Beth nods frantically, showing him the weapon in her hands. He smiles, taking a moment to grab ahold of both of her shoulders.

“You can do this,” he promises. “Stay behind me and cover me if I need it, you got that?” Beth nods once more and Rick presses a quick kiss to her lips, so quickly Beth barely has the time to register it, before he’s pulling away.

Following Rick, both with their weapons raised, they approach the walkers.

He kicks the closest one in the stomach. With a groan, it falls backwards, landing on top of the second. Both drop to the ground. Rick stabs the third right in the middle of the forehead, pulling his knife from its skull with a sickening crunch before it drops to the ground.

He stabs the first one he’d kicked, ready to kill the second as well when another of the walkers grabs onto him, pushing him off balance and to the ground.

Beth watches with wide eyes, frozen for only a fraction of a second before she jumps in. Pushing the walker off of Rick, she’s quick to stab it through the bottom of its jaw. The walker falls to the ground below.

Rick, breathing heavily and still sitting on the ground, kills the second walker he’d been working on prior to the attack.

Beth stabs the last remaining walker, killing it easily and then wiping her knife off on the grass before returning it to her pocket.

Panting herself, she offers Rick a shaky hand. Mirroring yesterday when he’d offered his own to Beth, he accepts it. He allows her to help him up.

“What was that you said the other day?” He teases lightly, swiping at the beads of sweat along his forehead. “Somethin’ about bein’ useless, was it?”

Beth rolls her eyes, smiling gently as she ushers Rick along.

* * *

“Car is still here,” Rick mumbles, nodding in the direction of the vehicle they’d been forced to abandon last night. Beth sighs, not sure whether or not it’s a good sign.

“Guess they didn’t leave us behind,” she shrugs eventually. Rick nods, meeting eyes with the blonde briefly before looking away.

Continuing to walk towards the car, Beth watches Rick as he begins collecting the scattered bags of food they’d dropped the night before. They’re untouched and still on the ground. “Can’t believe they’re still here,” Beth chuckles softly, pushing her nerves away. She’s determined to keep things as positive as possible.

Rick nods his agreement. “Listen, Beth,” he sighs, turning to look the blonde’s way. “I was thinkin’ we might need to leave and co—”

“’Bout damn time you two quit playin’ house and came back for us.”

Jumping upon hearing someone else’s voice, Beth turns just in time to spot Daryl approaching. Both Michonne and Sasha are in his wake. Her eyes light up as she watches at them, that bright smile of hers back on her face in full force and her relief apparent.

She pulls Daryl into a quick hug, despite his minor protests. Wincing slightly at the contact, Beth pulls away. “You okay?” She wonders, a frown replacing her smile.

Daryl nods and Michonne rolls her eyes from behind him. “Cut himself on a piece of broken glass last night trying to get us inside of a house and away from those walkers,” she supplies.

Beth grimaces, pulling up the man’s sleeve to examine the injury. “Daddy will be able to take care of it once we’re back,” she confirms. “Until then I can wrap it.”

“It’s fine,” Daryl mumbles, shaking her hand off of him and readjusting the crossbow on his back.

“It's not fine,” she scolds, “and I’m doin’ it whether you want it done or not. You really wanna die in this world because of a disease acquired from a small cut, of all things?” Beth chides, shooting him with a pointed stare. After a moment or so, Daryl relents and offers his arm back for the girl to take. “That’s what I thought, Daryl Dixon.”

He pretends not to hear both Michonne and Sasha as they laugh behind him.

“We got some wrap last night,” Rick offers, handing the materiel to Beth. She takes it, their fingertips touching for a brief moment.

Her eyes meeting his quickly, she pulls away and returns to working on Daryl.

Stepping back, Rick returns his own focus to their bags and begins putting them back into the vehicle. Willing his body to calm down, he tries thinking about anything else besides Beth Greene and her electric touch.

Eventually they’re all packed up and have all of their gathered supplies loaded. Beth has Daryl wrapped and ready to go, even having received a soft ‘thanks’ in response.

“Think we have time to hit the rest of these shops nearby before we head off?” Rick wonders once they’re all ready to leave.

Everyone else looks skeptical as they watch him. Daryl, eyes lowered, shrugs as he readjusts his crossbow yet again. “You sure that’s a good idea, Rick?” He questions. “After last night?”

Rick shrugs, meeting Beth’s gaze for a brief moment. “Not our first time havin’ a bad idea, and probably won’t be the last. Besides, we could use the supplies.” Beth’s heart flutters as she hears this, eyes lowering as a blush takes over her cheeks.

This seems to be enough reason for the group as they’re quick to disperse, working rapidly on looting through the remaining shops in town. 

Fifteen minutes after, Rick finds himself behind the wheel with Daryl riding shotgun. Beth is in the middle of both of the girls, all three in the backseat. Her eyes droop lower and lower the further they journey.

By the time they’re pulling back up to the gates of the prison and past a waving Carol and Carl, she’s long since fast asleep with her head pressed to Sasha’s shoulder.

Visons of Rick kissing her, of Daryl, Sasha, and Michonne all alive and in good spirits, keeps her dreams light as she rests.


End file.
